Unfortunately, the Pilling Report also contains elements that are potentially destructive to the Church\u2019s life and witness.<\/p>\n
\u201d\u00a2While an \u201copen ended process of facilitated conversation\u201d\u009d is advised, the \u201d\u02dcend\u2019 of affirming same-sex unions is already recommended, and this bias affects the trajectory of both the report and the conversation.<\/p>\n
\u201d\u00a2Underpinning this call for \u201d\u02dcfacilitated conversation\u2019 is the controversial claim that the argument for the Church\u2019s traditional teaching about marriage and sexual intimacy is \u201cinconclusive.\u201d\u009d<\/p>\n
Inviting the church to discover a new consensus about sexual relationships beyond those of a lifelong union of one man and one woman in Holy Matrimony is not helpful.<\/p>\n
Concerning these matters, I am in complete agreement with the Right Reverend Keith Sinclair, the Bishop of Birkenhead, and a member of the Working Group, in his dissent from the Report. The Church must not waiver from its received teaching. Scripture and the catholic consensus must be treated as givens, the attitude of the signatories not withstanding. Those who would re-construct the received moral order in the 21st century to respond to a culture bent on self-actualization, rather than dying to self, will do no better than those who\u201d\u201dquite unsuccessfully but with much damage\u201d\u201din the 20th century sought to re-define the doctrines of the Trinity and the person of Christ.<\/p>\n
Our prayers are with the House of Bishops of the Church of England as the Pilling Report is received, considered and acted upon. Our prayers are with the entire Church of England as she seeks to be a faithful Church in a secular and post-Christian age.<\/p>\n